Hair curling clip



United States Patent Harue Kanai Tokyo, Japan May 19,1967

Dec. 1, 1970 Picaso Company Limited Tokyo, Japan May 26, 1966 Japan Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee Priority HAIR CURLING CLIP 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 132/33 Int. Cl A45d 2/12 Field of Search 132/33, 40, 41: 28/78 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,123,080 3/1964 Albertoni 132/40 3,267,942 8/1966 Mestral 132/40 3,009,235 ll/196l Mestral 28/78 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,257,559 2/1961 France 132/40 1,335,844 7/1963 France 132/40 1,248,464 11/1960 France 4. 132/39 Primary ExaminerLouis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-(iregory E. McNcill Attorney-Oblon, Fisher & Spivak ABSTRACT: A curling clip consists ofa cylindrical core and a tubelike covering fabric. The fabric is made of plastic and a great number of relatively stiff short monofilaments which protrude in pairs. Each pair of the monofilaments comprises a vertical twig and a right-angled twig, i.e., the reversed L twig, to clip and hold the hair.

HAIR CURLlNG CLIP This invention relates to clips for curling the hair and more particularly to clip about which hairs may be wound without using hairpins.

At the present time some curling clips have twigs (short stiff protruding threads or filaments) which are formed in pairs. The thread or filament may be straight, arcuately curved or of other forms. A curling clip having arcuately curved twigs is incapable of clipping and holding hairs well. When the curled hairs are unraveled from such a clip, some of entangled hairs will be pulled or torn out. Some of known curling clips may be good only to clip and hold hairs. For example, a curling clip wherein each pair of the protruding twigs comprises a straight filament and a hooked filament (e.g., a fishhooklike or knitting needle pointlike filament) clips and holds the'hair very well, whereas the curled hairs thereon will become entangled when the hairs are unraveled.

A suitable curling'clip has a favorable unraveling function as well as a favorable clipping function. Especially, a favorable unraveling function depends upon the form and the arrange ment of the protruding twig as well as upon the resiliency thereof.

It is the objective of the present invention to provide a curling clip which has a favorable clipping function and unraveling function, thatis, on which hairs are well clipped and held, and from which the curled hairs are very smoothly unraveled.

According to the present invention, the curling clip comprises a cylindrical core covered by a tube of a special plastic fabric. The fabric at its outside surface is covered with pairs of substantially vertical short twigs and substantially right-angled twigs (i.e., the reversed L" twigs) of monofilaments. Said pair is obtained by cutting off one upper side portion of the projecting monofilament which has two substantially right-angled corners, in such a manner that either of the right-angled corners may be cut off. In this way, the right-angled twig has the horizontal portions and the vertical portion, which are preferably thermoset. The proportion of the horizontal portion of the right-angled twig to the vertical portion thereof is preferably 0.4 to 1.0 by length. The suitable horizontal portion to 1.5 mm. long and the suitable vertical portion is 1.5 to 2.5 mm. long. The angle of the right-angled twig may be round in a manner, but preferably, the vertical and horizontal portions thereof are respectively straight.

The twigs of monofilaments are so relatively stiff and springlike that they may be elastically transformable in every direction. The thickness of the monofilament is equal to preferably below 330 denier, most preferably about 300 denier. The pairs of the twigs are substantially alined opposite each other in the peripheral direction of the tubular formed fabric. The direction of the plane formed by the pair is substantially in the said peripheral direction, that is, in which hairs are to be wound.

When hairs are wound on the outside surface of the fabric, both twigs in each pair will be pushed open. The hairs will be positively clipped between both twigs with the resiliency of the twigs. When the curling clip are freed from the curled hairs, the hairs will be unfastened very smoothly from pairs of the twigs. This is mainly because the horizontal portion end of the right-angled twig is straight, not hooked.

In order to make it easier to understand the present invention and its object and features, the invention shall be explained in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a sectional view showing the texture of a part of a fabric for the curling clip of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the fabric as in FIG. 2 after the projecting fabric with two substantially right-angled corners is cut off and as thermoset;

FIG. 3 is a general side view of a curling clip of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectioned view of the clip of FIG. 3;

and

FIG. 5 is a general side view of the cylindrical cage-shaped core of the clip of FIG. 3.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention shall be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An example of a suitable fabric to be used in the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The fabric 10 is preferably made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin such as nylon. It comprises a pile weave consisting of ground wefts I1, ground warps 12 and monofilament 13 which are pile warps. The monofilament 13 projects in the form of two substantially right angles as in FIG. I. This angled pile warp is preferably thermoset, and then cut off at the upper side portion I5 as shown in FIG. 2, thereby forming pairs of substantially vertical twigs l6 and substantially right-angled twigs 14. The right-angled twig 14 has the horizontal portion 13 and the vertical portion 13" as shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2 the proportion of the horizontal portion 13 to the vertical portion 13" is about l:-2 by length. Pairs of the twigs I4, 16 are substantially alined opposite each other in the peripheral direction of the tubular formed fabric as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

The welded surface 18 holds the fabric piece 10 in the form ofla round cylinder, Le. a tube. This cylindrically formed base fabric I0 is fitted on the outside surface of a separately prepared cage-shaped core 20. The core 20 is made of a synthetic resin and illustrated in FIG. 5.

A suitable method of manufacturing the base fabric is shown in U.S. Pat. application No. 613,230, filed in the United States Patent Office on Feb. I, 1967 and assigned to the same assignee.

Only a preferable embodiment of a curling clip according to the present invention has been shown above.

Modifications may be made in the above-described embodiment within the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A hair curler comprising a cylindrical core at least partly covered by a tube of base fabric, said base fabric being of a synthetic plastic resin and having a plurality of pairs of twigs integral therewith as outwardly projecting portions, each of said pairs of twigs comprising vertical short twig and a rightangled twig with each right-angled twig having a vertical portion and a horizontal portion, said horizontal portion being straight and having a free end tip, the vertical short twig being positioned below and spaced from the horizontal portion of the right-angled twig and in the same plane as is formed by the vertical and horizontal portions of the right-angled twig, wherein the said vertical short twig is positioned beneath the tip of the said horizontal portion, the proportion of the length of said horizontal portion to said vertical portion being in the range of 0.4 to 1.0 in length, the said plane of each pair being perpendicular to the axis of the core. 

